Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656 in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon,
now called Auriesville. She was declared a saint by Pope Benedict XVI
in 2012. The story of her life has a lot to do with local New York State
history, and also how the Catholic faith was brought to upstate New
York from Europe long before our country was founded.

"It's sort of like a family reunion," said Mary Ann Delany of the annual St. Kateri Tekakwitha Pow Wow.
Ms. Delany is part of the Metis Nation, the North American and Canadian Bands. The St. Kateri Pow Wow will be held July 1-4 at the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville.

By the time Scott Nelson Foster delivers his second commissioned painting of St. Kateri Tekakwitha to her namesake parish in Schenectady, parishioners there will have spent almost a year following his artistic process and learning about the 17th-century Mohawk woman through his blog.

Joan Bennett's recently-completed icon of St. Kateri Tekakwitha is supposed to be symbolic - so she hopes people aren't confused by the simultaneous rising and midday suns, nighttime constellations and yellow sky it portrays.

Articles about Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint